secrets
by prince shota
Summary: When Bertholdt screws up and turns a human during a full moon, Annie and her pack have to infiltrate Rose High School in order to find the marked human before his first transformation on the next full moon. But things get complicated when they find out that bringing their new packmate back might be an impossible task. AU: Annie/Armin, established Bert/Reiner. Hints of Eren/Annie.
1. marked

Annie was genuinely surprised when she heard that Bertholdt had screwed up. Usually it was Reiner who made dumb mistakes (and even then it didn't happen often). Out of all of them, Bert was pretty well put together - he knew what their mission was, what they were, and what they had to do to survive. It was why he was the beta. He would have been the alpha if Annie hadn't been stronger than him. She was able to combine her powerful wolf muscles and her sharp combat skills to pin Bert down. As a white wolf she was smaller, but Bert's black fur had felt so stale and weak beneath her paws as he admitted defeat, and like that the title was hers.

Even so, the dynamics of their pack was…off. Annie was the leader but she still listened to Reiner and Bertholdt's opinions and commands when things got rough, because they had been wolves longer than her so despite her strength and sharp mind, they had experience that she didn't. She acknowledged that. But in the end she made the final call. And since Bertholdt had apparently went as far as to screw up royally on a _full moon_, things got even more complicated.

Werewolves didn't explicitly turn on full moons. They could turn whenever they wanted, but on full moons, their blood boiled in some bizarre way that made them itch to sink their teeth into anything and everything. It was the one night that the pack went wild and hunted until their teeth ached and their stomachs felt like they would split open. It was why they lived in the mountains, far from any camping spots to avoid hunting humans and drawing attention to themselves.

So Annie had to admit it wasn't _all_ Bert's fault.

Some stupid kids had decided to be little rebels and camp in the dangerous part of the mountains that sane people avoided. It was a full moon and Bert had cut off from the pack, and Annie didn't really remember much after that. When she woke up, naked and aching and bloody, her head was resting light on Reiner's arm. He smelled like dirt and death and she had groaned, slowly sitting up, and noticed Bert was awake. It was strange, since they usually all awoke at the same time, sensing the others' movements. But he just sat there, eyes wide, blood around his mouth that smelled human and that was when Annie jumped to her feet and demanded to knwow hat happened.

Bert told her he remembered, but barely - there were humans nearby and one was off on his own _and he just smelled so good I couldn't stop myself, I sunk my teeth into him and it tasted so good, but he hit me so hard I fell off the edge of the cliff and I barely managed to make it here and-_-

Annie had heard enough.

She had no sympathy when Bert groaned and told her that he thought he broke some bones, because he had really fucked up. The only time a werewolf could turn a human was on a full moon and the idiot had not only left a survivor, but he left a bite mark. The next full moon the kid would go through his first transformation.

Reiner was already at his mate's side to comfort him and tend to his wounds, and by that time Annie had decided they only had one choice. In order to avoid the humans becoming aware of their existence they had to bring this human back with them to the mountains as part of their pack before his first transformation. They'd train him and mentor him and he'd become a part of their family - Annie had been wondering about finding more pack members lately anyway, since three was a small number for a werewolf pack and it was kind of pathetic to be honest.

So that was how she ended up with her head on the cool desk as a boring human droned on about the revolutionary war or something horribly cliché like that. She had been born and raised a wolf so she had never gone to school - everything was so confusing and new and it gave her a headache. She hated all the rules and the confinement, and she had been separated from Bertholdt and Reiner (they had been just as lost as she was at the news). She hated this and she had only been at 'school' for a few hours.

They knew nothing about the human Bert bit. He couldn't remember what he looked like, much less his name or what his friends smelled like. The only way they'd know is if they could see the bite mark (there was no way, with all the pollution and perfume and stench in the air, that they could smell Bert's mark at this point). But the problem is Bert didn't remember where he bit him, either.

"Useless idiot," she muttered under her breath, turning her cheek against the desk as she glowered at the pencil resting right by her nose.

This whole spy thing was dumb, but it was the only way. Thankfully the only place near enough to the mountain was Rose High School, so they decided to infiltrate the building as students to find their new pack mate. If his wolf form was impressive enough, maybe Annie would finally find a mate.

She hated the idea but as a female alpha, the urge to breed was pretty prominent. Definitely during full moons and the week beforehand.

Wait, why was she thinking about that right now? She turned again and propped herself up onto her elbows, narrowing her eyes at the teacher. How long had this guy been talking? She hated sitting here quietly like this and she hated having to listen to these inferior humans' commands like an obedient house pet. But her pride wasn't as important as her survival, so she bit her tongue and bowed her head. Even if she did feel like tearing out this guy's throat just to get him to shut up.

Annie jumped when she felt a light tap on her shoulder. Scowling, she turned slightly only to nearly slam into a hand. She scrunched her nose and looked up at a grinning bald kid waving a folded letter at her. She was going to ignore him but then he tossed the paper onto her desk and even if she wanted to turn around again and tear him a new one, she couldn't because of _rules_ or whatever. Besides, she noticed that he had written "New Girl" on the paper and assumed it was meant for her. She rolled her eyes but humored him, unfolding the note. '**Mister Ronald is boring as heck aint he? I didn't get to talk to you earlier but I'm Connie! ^u^ it's kind of weird to get transfers in the middle of the year. Where are you from?' **It was…surprisingly eloquent and formal, despite the goofy aura this kid was giving off. Even so, she didn't plan to play along, so she just gave him an annoyed look and threw the note back at him. He looked disappointed but she ignored it. She thought that was the end of it but right as the bell rang he sprung from his seat and hurried to stand beside her.

"Hey!"

She looked up, obviously bothered.

"Sorry, passing notes in the middle of class, not cool." He didn't look like he thought that way at all. "Annie, right?"

"Right," she said coolly, gathering her bag and standing up. She turned and headed out of the classroom to get her next class, grimacing when this Connie guy hurried to match her pace. "What do you want?"

Her tone was sharp but he looked unfazed. "I was wondering if you wanted to eat lunch with me and my friends today! It must be tough transferring in so late-"

"No," she said. "Leave me alone."

He looked confused and she quickened her pace, puffing out a relieved breath when she saw Reiner nearby with Bertholdt. Reiner was doting on his taller mate like always. Reiner was holding Bertholdt's bag and the taller male was sweating nervously, mouth moving rapidly, and Annie could tell that was his 'stop-treating-me-like-a-useless-child-I-am-fine-o n-my-own-really-thank-you' look. Funny, considering he was the reason they were here.

"Hey," she said, pausing by them. She glanced over her shoulder, satisfied to see Connie back off when he saw the intimidating males by her side.

"Hey," Reiner said. "Find anything?"

"No."

"Us either," Bertholdt sighed. "This is a lot harder than I thought it'd be."

"It's all these smells," Annie complained, waving her hand in front of her sensitive nose. "It's distracting."

"Yeah," Bert muttered, immediately turning and bending forward to bury his nose in Reiner's neck, as if to shield himself from all the smells. Reiner, unfazed, turned to Annie with a sigh.

"This may take longer than we originally thought."

Annie grimaced. "I already have a pest attached to me. I was planning to be here a week at most. Besides, the next full moon is in a month. We have to prepare him beforehand." She crossed her arms, her anxiety hidden fairly well. "We don't have time to just stand around."

"I know. I-we have gym after lunch," Reiner said, squinting at his school schedule. "I can check to see if anyone in the locker room had a bite mark."

"It shouldn't have healed yet," Bert piped up voice muffled. "The healing abilities don't kick in until after the first full moon, right?"

"Right," Annie confirmed. "Which means we have a month." She had planned for a week at most but Reiner was right. This was more difficult than she thought it'd be. There were too many people, too many smells, just…too…._many_.

Her headache was coming back.

"I'll try to make it less than a week," Reiner promised. "C'mon Bert, I'll walk you to your class," Reiner said, taking the taller boy's hand. Bertholdt pulled back and smiled in relief, letting Reiner lead him away. Annie watched them go and turned, brows furrowing when she realized people had been staring at them. Suddenly she felt anxious; did they hear them? No, they couldn't have, they had quieted their voices. Then why were they watching them so intently?

"Disgusting," she heard a voice mutter, and she bristled. She had heard those words before - her father, spitting them at her as he eyed her small stature and white fur - and the word held such contempt that she immediately grabbed the voice, yanking the startled human close.

"What was that?" she asked darkly. The boy blinked, looking a bit scared, but then steeled his expression.

"You heard me."

"What's so disgusting, hm?" she asked, venom dripping from her voice.

"Those gays," he said. "Of course the new kids would be fa-"

He didn't get to finish that sentence.

Annie had shoved him away and threw a punch to hard she felt his nose crack beneath her fist. She saw red. She heard a roaring in her ears and felt a buzzing in her head. How dare he. How dare he insult her family like that. She smelled the blood and pulled her hand back, watching the boy stagger back and grip his bloody nose.

"You crazy bitch! What the fuck!?" he squealed. Annie sneered as spectators rushed to his aide, glaring at her and comforting the sobbing boy.

"Pathetic," she muttered. She turned when she heard a loud 'what's going on here!?' and saw a teacher hurrying over. She immediately turned and ducked her head, hurrying away, her knuckles throbbing in a pleasant way and a horrible grin etched on her face.

* * *

She was late for class, as expected. But she felt pleased. Like her bloodlust had been sated. Or something.

Despite that, it had been so fast. The whole punch and confrontation had only lasted a minute or so, yet she felt as if her body was buzzing, and the satisfaction she felt lasted pretty long. She was able to sit patiently through her science class, even though she was paired up with a nervous blonde human with the weirdest eyebrows and bluest eyes and the oddest name. Armin, or something like that, and though his way of talking annoyed her he was smart and got her an A on her first lab. Not that grades mattered since they were only here to bring their new pack member back.

Still, she had to admit his smile was charming. For a human.

She saw that Connie kid again as she made her way to lunch and managed to avoid him, but since she had a different lunch period than Bertholdt and Reiner she found an empty lunch table and sat there, munching on the gross cafeteria burger with a face that said just how revolted she was. She chose a corner table and was right by her science partner and his friends, who were a weird bunch, but she wasn't that surprised considering how weird science guy was. The brown-haired kid was the loudest and kept talking about how pumped he was to "destroy the Titan team next week" and the black-haired girl kept patting him to calm him and Armin was smiling awkwardly. Annie watched, bored, as if watching a TV show. It wasn't like there was anything better to do.

She only looked away when the girl noticed her gaze. Annie turned away, dropping the rest of her burger, her stomach suddenly churning. Without looking again she stood up, dumped her tray, and headed out to ditch the rest of classes and just find Reiner and Bert. She couldn't do this…student thing. She wasn't meant to be confined like this.

At this rate she wouldn't even try to convince the soon-to-be-werewolf. She'd just drag him back to the mountains by force.

But for now, she'd accompany Bertholdt and Reiner to gym class.

* * *

**notes:** wow this is terrible i'm bad at first chapters and starting off stories. i have a bad habit of moving too fast in stories but once things start settling down, the story will progress a lot slower and there will be a lot more dialogue and character interaction. bear with me for now! ;w;


	2. hunters

His hands felt hot.

Sometimes, whenever Annie turned, she remembered her days as a child. Her father's hand were hot, always hot, not warm and comforting but angry and hot, and they were rough and mean. She had only felt the gentle love of a mother for a while until her father took her and left, mouthing off about how humans could never raise a wolf, and when Annie cried because she wanted her mommy he would hit her hard, until she was quiet.

Sometimes when Annie turned, she remembered his eyes. Big, brown, stern, but full of a wisdom she wished she had. Even though she feared and hated him she also respected him. He would hurt her so that she could become strong, he neglected her so that she could learn to stand on her own two feet - he did it to make her into a warrior, and despite knowing this, Annie used to think things like _but I'm not a soldier I'm his daughter_.

But when she saw his body hit the ground and blood cover the forest floor, she realized that she was thankful for his hot hands and angry voice. She was thankful he made her hate him more than she loved him because she didn't cry as she leapt away on quick paws. She might have dreamt of crying and mourning him but once her eyes opened she was stone, unable to feel anything but resentment when she looked back on her life with him. He was killed by a hunter because he was foolish and cocky, and she knew he had taught her to survive and to not make the same mistakes he did.

His death made her strong.

Whenever she turned, she thought of her father and the bruises he left on her, the scar running down her back from his claws, the blood he used to smear on her cheek as he yelled in her face about how weak she was and how she needed to get stronger, stronger, _stronger_- And so every single time, by the time she was standing tall on her four feet, her head held high and ears perked, she remembered what she was and who she was. She remembered, thanks to her thoughts and memories during the transformation, that all that mattered was survival.

This situation was scary to her. Because if she failed, not only would she pay the price, but so would Bertholdt and Reiner. She just-she_ just_-

"I don't understand," Annie grumbled, rubbing her forehead.

She just…didn't.

She was crouched by Bertholdt and Reiner in the forest, their current home, and they were all aching and naked and tired. They had been so used to being in the mountains living life as animals more than humans, so adjusting to this new world was difficult for them. They had hunted properly but they struggled, because this place was coated with trees and obstacles and they bumped and fell a few times. It was humiliating really, but Bert insisted they would get used to it soon.

"Why is this so difficult?" she continued. The gym plan yesterday didn't work at all, and she felt stupid and useless and angry because she didn't know what to try next.

"Maybe if we narrow it down…we can get some one on one time with some possible candidates and I'll be able to smell if they're the one I bit or not," Bert suggested.

"Good idea, except how the hell are we going to 'narrow it down'?" Annie asked with narrowed eyes. "You don't notice the changes until the week before the full moon and by then it'll be too late."

"There is…one way," Reiner muttered, sitting up. He had been lying by Bert, who was idly petting his hair, and Annie hated the flare of jealousy that prickled at her skin. She usually didn't care, but sometimes it got to her, being the only single one when her only two pack mates were already paired up. It got a little lonely. Not that she'd ever admit it.

"I'm listening," Annie said, raising an eyebrow.

"We could always-well…" he shifted.

"What?" Annie snapped, leaning closer.

"Mating season."

Annie blanched. "_Excuse me_?"

Bert looked as confused and stunned as Annie did, which made her feel a little better. So she wasn't the only one who didn't get it.

"We're used to sensing it by the weather, but down here -" he shifted, looking uncomfortable. "It doesn't snow down here. It's too hot. So it wasn't until I was in class that I noticed December is coming up and it's winter already and-"

"Your point?" Annie snapped, irritated. Mating season for werewolves was no different from normal wolves, minus lasting only a month opposed to a few months. She always left for a few weeks so Reiner and Bert would go crazy with their gross sexual habits (it was funny because they were both male so it wasn't like they could breed, which was the purpose of mating season, but whatever - they were bonded mates so that stuff didn't really matter). Thankfully she was too proud to just bend over for any male that wandered by. She fought off any strays that caught her scent and tried to mount her, because she was _picky_ and refused to mate unless her partner was stronger than her. If he could pin her down and fend her off, she'd let him do what he wanted. But she had yet to find someone like that, so unlike Bert and Reiner, she didn't really see mating season as some romantic vacation where they could just forget the world and be together.

It was painful and miserable.

Why bring this up now? Better yet, why the hell did this have to happen during a crisis?

Shit.

"Well…no matter how far into their transformation they are, all werewolves-fully turned or not-they…sense when a female is in heat. And they're drawn to them." Reiner looked a bit nervous, rightfully so, because Annie was giving him a look so hostile he was close to just rolling over and hiding behind Bert.

"Are you suggesting I flaunt my scent and wait for someone to try to mount me?"

"Then use your wily charms to seduce him home with us," Reiner added.

Annie stood. She smiled coldly. "That's disgusting."

"We're desperate," Reiner said. Bertholdt nodded silently in agreement. "Listen, I'm not telling you to let him do what he wants to you, okay? I'm just saying maybe you can use this to your advantage."

He had a point, she knew that, but his suggestion was so….humiliating. "I-" she stopped, pressing her lips together. "Fine. Since all I really have to do is walk around. I just hope it doesn't affect the humans, too," she grumbled, scratching the back of her neck, angrily. "It shouldn't," she added thoughtfully.

If it meant surviving, then she didn't mind all that much.

"Alright, fine."

* * *

"December 6th," Annie said, and Reiner nodded. They were in the school library and Annie was squinting at an online calendar, looking annoyed. "We have two weeks to do this. We're really cutting this close."

It wasn't even December yet, according to this human chart, so they couldn't do much until then except keep looking using the pathetically useless means they've been using up until now. But once December hit Annie would begin emitting the pheromones she needed and-well, the rest should come naturally.

"True," Reiner said, "but we have no choice."

"Right," she muttered, exiting out of the browser when she heard a familiar voice pipe up behind her-

"Annie!"

Connie.

She turned in her chair to glare at him. Apparently he was more intimidated by Bertholdt than Reiner because he didn't hesitate to bounce up to them, and she then noticed he had someone with him. A girl with brown hair up in a ponytail and she was munching on chips in this obnoxious manner than made Annie want to crush it in her hands. The sound was grating on her nerves, and Connie's annoying grin and voice wasn't helping at all.

"Reiner!" he added, and the girl squeaked, chips flying out of her mouth when she saw Reiner look up at them. She flushed as Connie tired to high five the blonde man, who just awkwardly lifted his hand, confused, and jarred a bit when Connie slapped it. Annie rolled her eyes.

"You know him?" she asked, jabbing her thumb in Connie's direction. Reiner opened his mouth to answer but Connie beat him to it.

"Yeah, we have math together! He really helped me out, I have no idea what's going on half the time. Thankfully this guy is pretty good at teaching."

Annie glared at Reiner accusingly, as if he had committed a treacherous act for helping this annoying monkey. Reiner just shrugged sheepishly.

"I'm Sasha," the girl said through her mouthful of chips, holding up a hand. "Also in math. Also have no idea what's going on."

"Also eating all the chips even though we split the price and bought it to share," Connie said, grabbing the bag. Sasha looked as if she had just been stabbed.

"Listen, as fascinating as this is, we're busy," Annie said dully, hoping her annoyance showed. "Go away."

Connie laughed, lazily resting his arm on Sasha, who looked as if she had her soul sucked out of her. "You're funny, Ann." Oh he did not just call her- "Listen, since you guys are new I'm sure you're having some trouble making friends? It's really hard when you transfer in the middle of the year, huh."

"I don't-" Annie started irritably but Connie cut her off.

"Well, as thanks for the math thing, come to Jean's party Friday night! He throws one like every few weeks to try to impress Mikasa, so he lets everyone come to seem more cool than he really is. He's rich though so it's never boring, his place is huge, and he has a pool and hottub and _horses_-"

"No," Annie said simply.

"Oh come on," Connie whined and Sasha blinked, deftly snagging the chips and pouring the rest in her mouth, cackling when Connie yelled at her to stop.

"I don't know," Reiner said, voice low, leaning in a bit as Sasha squealed and Connie tried to jump on her, "it sounds like a good opportunity."

"To what? Get the scent of human all over me?"

"No, to find the marked human." Annie's nose scrunched up. "A lot of people will be drunk. They might be willing to talk, and without raising suspicion, we can ask if anybody was in the mountains or encountered something…"

Oh. _Oh_.

Annie turned to Connie immediately, who was laughing as Sasha jumped up and down and knocked against a chair then began squeaking in pain. "Hey, you. Monkey boy."

Connie blinked. "Eh?"

"I'll-We'll go."

"Eh? Really? Sweet!" Connie sprung up, ignoring Sasha, who was crouched on the floor clutching her leg and groaning in pain. "Here's his address," he said, shuffling around and grabbing a ripped off notebook paper, scribbled something down, then handed it to her. She took it carefully, as if worried his germs would get on her fingers. "I'll see you there!"

Annie felt as if she'd really regret this.

* * *

**notes:** woooow i'm sorry everyone is ooc i….[lays down and cries]

i don't plan for this story to be more than maybe 10 or 15 chapters, so…..hmm yeah. also i made up the mating thing based on information i studied up on wolf mating habits, i just twisted it a little to make things a bit simpler. =w=;; aaah more Eren and Armin in the next chapter! (by now i'm sure you all know who the marked one is, right?) thanks for much for all the reviews and follows. you guys are awesome. ;w;


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